Keyboard for writing-machines.



A. B. EDWARDS & F. K. RUSSELL.

KEYBOARD FOR WRITING MACHlNES.

APPLICATlON FILED 05c. 10, I915- Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET i.

A. B. EDWARDS & F. K. RUSSELL. KEYBOARD FOR WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-b1915- Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

III

numllllll I immllll STATE ALRAH EDWARDS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND FRANK K. RUSSELL, 0L DALLAS, TEXAS, ASSIGNORS TO SHORTWRITER COMPANY, 0F WILMINGTUN, DELAW'ARE, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

KEYBOARD FOB, WRITING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented it,

Application filed December 10, 1915. Serial No. 66,090.

and FRANK K. RUSSELL, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Keyboards for Writing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in writing machines, and relates more particularly to an improved construction of keyboards for such machines.

The object of the invention is to provide a writing machine having its keys so arranged that the fingers of the operator may rest upon the keyboard in an easy and natural manner, the keys being so disposed with relation to each other that the fingers of the operator may reach all of them with the least possible strain or exertion.

Another object is to provide"anyarrangement of keys for a writing machine that will permit the operator to work at a maximum speed and efficiency, each key being so disposed as to be struck by-a certain finger or thumb and the arrangement being such as to decrease the possibility of a wrong key being struck.

A further object is to provide a keyboard for stenographic or short writing machines having all of its keysarranged in pairs, it being possible to strike the two members of any pair with a single finger Or thumb and it being furthermore possible to strike simultaneously the members of two adjacent pairs with a single finger.

"With these and various other objects in view, our invention has relation to certain novel features of keyboard arrangement, one

embodiment of which is described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of the construction comprising the herein-described inven tion, such parts of the stenographiowriting machine as are not directly correlated with said invention being omitted from this view, and I Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view of the same, showing a portion of the frame of the machine, the plane of section being taken parallel to the side walls of the machine.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate similar parts'in both the figures, 1 denotes a plurality of key levers pivotally mounted between the side walls 2 of the machine casing, said levers being slightly spaced from the surface supporting the machine. The rear extremities of the levers l are pivotally mounted upon a rod 3 transversely extending between the rear portions of the side walls 2, slots 4: being provided in the upper edges of said levers to receive said rods.v A wire spring 5 is correlated with each member 1 at the rear extremity thereof, sa1d sprmg serving the dual purpose of holdlng the lever in its proper relation to the rod and returning the lever to its normal position after having been subjected to a downward angular displacement. The mid dle portion of each spring 5 rests transversely upon the rod 3 adjacent to the cor related lever, and the forward and rearward extremities of each spring are respectively hooked beneath the correlated lever and beneath the rod 6-parallel to the rod 3 and slightly spaced to the rear thereof. The forward extremity of each lever 1 carries one of the keys or finger buttons 7 which in conjunction form the keyboard constituting the subject-matter of the present invention.

The keys 7 are arranged in three distinct groups, designated in the drawings by the letters A, B and C, the group A'being disposed between and slightly in front of the such pairs of keys, the two innermost pairs being in transverse alinement, the middle pair being slightly to the rear of the two inner pairs, and the outer pairs being stepped forwardly from the middle pair. It is to be observed that the keys comprising each pair are sufliciently close to'each other to permit of their being struck by one finger of the operator. The two inner pairs of each side group are sufficiently close to each other to permit of the two pairs being simultaneously struck by one finger of the operator. The middle group of keys A comprises five members, four of these keys being symmetrically disposed in front of the fifth key, which is transversely elongated and is designated by the numeral 7*.

It is to be observed that the keys of the entire keyboard are stepped gradually up- Ward from front to back of the keyboard, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, this feature of the construction serving to decrease the possibility of the operator inadvertently striking a key to the rear of the one which he is intentionally striking.

The rear portions of the key levers 1 are parallel and spaced an equal distance apart, while the forward extremities of said levers are diverged from each other in fan shape. A rod 8 is transversely extended between the side walls 2 of the machine above the key levers 1, and upon this rod are pivotally mounted a plurality of substantially upright type-bars 9 carrying type 18 and each having an integral rearwardly extending arm 10 connected with its correlated key lever by a link 11. In order to facilitate assembling and repairing the machine the pivotal mounting of the type-bars is conveniently accomplished by providing each bar at its lower end with a slot receiving said rod. A spring 13, mounted upon a plate 14 extending, horizontally between the side walls 2, is correlated with each type-bar to hold the same in proper relation to the rod 8.

Upon the rod 8 there is also pivoted the lower extremity of an upright support for a universal bar 15, which is subjected to a forwardly acting impulse by a coiled spring 16, having one extremity secured to the upper portion of said universal bar and the other extremity secured to the forward edge of the plate-14. The upper horizontal portion of the universal bar is engaged by a hook 17 projecting forwardly from the middle portion of each type-bar 9. The connection thus established between each type-bar and the universal bar is such that a rearward angular displacement of any type-bar will be communicated by the hook 17 of said type-bar to the universal bar, but this rearward displacement will not be communicated by the universal bar to any of the other type-bars. After any type-bar has completed its stroke, it will be automatically returned to its normal position due to the forward movement to which the universal bar is subjected by the springs 13 and 16.

The inking ribbon 19, platen 20, paper 21 and paper roll 22 may not properly be considered features of the striking mechanism, but they are shown in the drawings to more readily explain the construction and operation of the invention. It is to be observed that the type bars 9 are parallel and equidistant, the space between said bars being considerably less than that which separates the parallel portions of the key levers.

The invention is presented as including all such modifications and changes as properly come within'the scope of the following claim.

We claim:

A keyboard for a writing machine comprising three groups'of ke vs,'two of which groups are arranged symmetrically at each side of the third group and rearwardly thereof, the side groupshaving their ends arranged in single pairs, the members of each pair being in alinement parallel to the side walls of the machine and the pairs being arranged in staggered relation transversely of the machine, the third group consisting of a single key elongated transversely of the machine and a plurality of keys disposed symmetrically in front of the single key.

ALRAH B. EDWARDS. Witnesses:

ERNEST H. MERCHANT, M. A. KIDDIE.

FRANK RUSSELL. Witnesses:

y H. L. BnoMnERc, A. R. NICHOLSON. 

